When the 2020 Olympics was, eventually, pushed back to 2021 it seemed at the time like that was a foolproof option to simply kick it back 12 months and work towards then. However, as the coronavirus crisis rumbles on around the world and the fact that a vaccine is the only real way out becomes more and more apparent, even hosting an Olympics next year is in doubt. Last week, Kentaro Iwata, a specialist in infectious diseases, said he thought it "unlikely" that Tokyo could host the Games next year while overnight the head of the Japan Medical Association has added his voice to the mix, saying it will be "difficult" to host the Games next summer unless a vaccine has been developed.
Moving on to rugby and in his column this morning Gerry Thornley writes that the battle between Bill Beaumont and Agustín Pichot for the position of chairman of World Rugby highlights a hemisphere divide. "Pichot is seen as something of a revolutionary, and a potentially dangerous one at that, who threatens the golden cash cow that is the Six Nations: witness his proposal for a World Nations League," he writes. Meanwhile, Leinster coach Stuart Lancaster yesterday said he believes his side will get back into action ahead of the curve whenever rugby does restart. With the current break showing no sign of coming to an end any time soon, Lancaster says it is a good time for him and his players to reflect. "When someone described to me leadership, the development of leadership, it's that you go up in a steep upward curve and you're flat out, you're going day in, day out, and you're not stopping to pause. Then you go through this plateau period and you go again. I think we're in that plateau period now," he says.
In soccer, the news that Uefa was to give a lifeline to many associations around Europe with funding of over €200m was welcomed across the continent and especially in Ireland where it would be a major boost to the Airtricity League but last night it was revealed that the association had already drawn down any payments from this year and from next year to ease its financial crisis back in 2018. The FAI must now hope that Fifa steps in over the next few months with some well-placed sources believing anything up to €7.5 might be made available. In the UK, efforts will intensify this week in getting the Premier League restarted with British culture secretary Oliver Dowden saying the government want it back as soon as possible.
In GAA, Donegal boss Declan Bonner told Seán Moran yesterday that he would be open to a return to action behind closed doors. He also welcomed the idea of the Championship being extended into next year but knows that any return to intercounty action is probably still quite a way off.
In golf, it's looking increasingly unlikely that the Irish Open will be played this year after it was postponed from its original May date and the European Tour is now faced with an ever-narrowing window of opportunity to find new weeks even for those blue chip tournaments that are part of the elite Rolex Series.
